Today was a good day. We took a train out of Rome and out of the heat and headed to Frascati via Tor Vergata train stop to visit a winery named Antiche Terre Tuscolane. Our host gave us a grand tour of the vineyard, the winery has been in the family for 9 generations. The area is rich with volcanic rock from a nearby extinct volcano giving the soil an acidic tinge which makes amazing white wines. We walked through the vineyard and learned about the grapes and the delicate balance of humidity, sun, soil and temperature to produce the optimum grapes. This particular vineyard uses a canvas method to help balance the sun and rain for producing the best grapes.

We had the opportunity to visit the caves where the wine is produced and stored before it gets sent out. We sampled a wine in the cave and then sampled a few more outside.

We also sampled some cheese, biscuits (cookies) and pizza bread during our visit.

After our visit to the winery, we headed out to Frascali proper and took a walking tour with our host Daniella. She walked us through the city plaza and showed us the Italian prince’s home pictured below.

She then took us to this church and gave a bit of history. During World War II, the Nazi’s took over Frascali and used it as a base of operations. The United States bombarded the area with 2500 bombs destroying most of the city except for the church pictured below and the water fountain.

We continued our tour with a stop at a cookie shop where the cookies have tits. Not just two tits like a normal cookie but three tits and they represent the three good things in Pascali: wine, milk, honey.

We then made a pit stop at the bakery below, constructed in 1300’s and had a small pizza made from a shop across the street from the bakery. The place was called Ceralli (1920).

We ended up at Hostaria Santa Maria restaurant and sampled some bread and pasta. We had a great conversation with a couple from Ohio but stationed in Germany on the tour. We completed our visit and really liked Frascali. It is located on a high hill area and there was a cool Mediterranean breeze blowing through the city.

I asked our host how much a two bedroom apartment would rent for in the city and she said about 1000 euros per month. I took a photo of some real estate options as well.

Sadly, we had to head back to Rome and the infernal heat…

Categories: Rome, Italy
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We got to Rome yesterday and boy is it a scorcher! The sun, heat and humidity has made us realize that this may be our last summer vacation.

In the future, we will shift from summer vacations to spring or fall vacations. Summers are getting too hot and too many people all want to see the same venues. We read an article on CNN that reported Amsterdam is banning cruise ships in the city due to over tourism. We don’t think it will be long before other cities start limiting tourists in some way in the near future.

Our day today was supposed to start with a cooking class where we were going to make a pizza but the class got cancelled. We left disappointed but saw this church on the way so we went inside to rest. This is now known as the “Pizza Church”

After Pizza Church, we found another church nearby and went in to have a look. They have quite a few churches here by the way ;).

We finished the day with a river cruise down the Tiber River. We didn’t see anything amazing but the cool breeze on the open air vessel was very relaxing.

We did find a spot for EZ. Can picture the photo shoot already with beer in hand and a smile. This one for you EZ.

Tomorrow we are heading out to a small town via train, lets hope there isn’t a rail strike….

Categories: Rome, Italy
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We’ve been offline for some time now but we’re back online with new travel adventures. Expect new and exciting posts starting on Friday or maybe sooner as we head out to explore the Mediterranean this summer. Here’s a hint of where we’re going!

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